It All Begins at Midnight
by Squeaky Chipette Carly
Summary: The turtles lose one of their own but when a mysterious human is found, is it possible that he is the same brother that had died before their very eyes? And if so, how is it that he has become human and how is it that he doesn't seem to remember them at all!
1. Prologue: The Clock Strikes Twelve

Prologue: The Clock Strikes Midnight

The sound of church bells filled the crisp December night air and there were only four figures close enough to hear the beautiful bell chorus in the dead of night. One figure wore a blue bandana that fluttered behind him whenever the cold wind blew and in his arms he held the unconscious figure with bright orange hair. The other two figures stood silently behind the figure with the blue bandana each embraced by one another as tears trailed down one of the figure's cheeks that wore a purple bandana. The third conscious figure simply stood there holding the figure with the purple bandana in his arms while simply staring down at the unconscious figure with an unreadable expression upon his face. The unconscious figure before them with an orange bandana wrapped around his neck was barely breathing and the figure with the blue bandana looked up at the other two with a small frown upon his face.

"Come on you guys, let's get him back to Master Splinter quickly." Leonardo said slowly rising to his feet with the unconscious human in his arms.

Donatello and Raphael both looked at one another uncertainly for a moment before Donatello brought a hand up to quickly wipe the tears out of his eyes that had managed to nearly freeze thanks to the frigid temperatures.

"Leo, are…are you sure that this isn't Mik-" Leonardo's sudden and intense glare though stopped the younger turtle in mid-sentence and he whimpered softly as he moved to hide behind Raph.

"I'm sure that he isn't Mikey. Mikey is gone and we all know that. This is just some human that happens to look like him…if Mikey were human of course." Leonardo muttered as he stole a quick glance down at the unconscious human in his arms.

Freckles dusted the bridge of the human's nose and cheeks and unruly orange hair adorned the top of the young man's head that had dried blood staining the back of his head. The bandana was admittedly a bit unnerving to see for it was the same colored bandana that their youngest brother used to wear all the time. The color orange fit Mikey's carefree and rather unique personality and it was a bandana that the three turtle brothers thought that they would never see again. Especially after Mikey had been kil-

Leo shook his head at the morbid memory and cleared his throat after a moment of agonizing and awkward silence passed between the three turtle brothers.

"Now come on, I'm freezing my shell out here." Leo managed to whisper softly before he walked past his two surviving brothers with the unconscious human cradled closely to his chest in the feeble attempt of keeping the human shielded from the cold and relentless December wind.

Even if the young human did resemble their brother Mikey in a majority of ways, the three brothers knew that there was no way that he could have been the youngest turtle of their family. Mikey…Mikey had died in front of all of their eyes and they knew that the dead did not come back to life. It just wasn't possible even with today's ever advancing technology so the turtles didn't dare get their hopes up. Their hearts had been hurt enough with the loss of their youngest brother and to get their hopes up only to have them crushed again would probably shatter their already fragile family.

Each turtle had mourned their loss in different ways but the cold truth of the matter was that Mikey was dead and he wasn't coming back. It was how things were and there was no lesson in Master Splinter's strict training schedule that could teach the turtles how to cope with the death of a loved one, a brother, a comrade, a friend…

It was not easy dealing with the fact that their fun loving, adventure seeking, avid TV watcher, and junk food addict was gone for good. No longer would the lair be filled with the sound of the television blaring in the middle of the night whenever Mikey decided to play some videogames. Never again would another prank be played on three older brothers who had come to both enjoy yet hate Mikey's childish behavior at the same time. The truth of the matter was that Mikey was the glue that held all of them together and without the glue, there was nothing left. Leo was left questioning his abilities as a leader, Raph had fallen eerily silent and calm, and Don was left wondering if there was anything he could have done with his infinite knowledge to save his only little brother from death.

It was as though the family that Mikey had left behind was no longer the family he would remember although it didn't matter for the youngest turtle was gone and it was all because of their arch enemy, the Shredder. It was the Shredder that had taken their brother captive and had then executed him right in front of the turtles' eyes. To add insult to injury, the Shredder had managed to get away with their brother's body leaving them unable to even give Mikey a proper burial. The only thing the brothers had left of their brother besides his physical possessions were their memories of the young turtle and it just didn't sit right with them knowing that the Shredder had their brother's body at his disposal.

There was no telling what sick and twisted things the maniacal masked man was doing to Mikey's body and it killed the brothers to know that. There had to be some way they could retrieve Mikey's body in order to give him the burial that he deserved and so they had gone out to the city park that night in the hopes of working out a plan without Master Splinter overhearing them. That was when the brothers stumbled upon _him._ The unconscious young human lying curled up in a fetal position as though protecting himself from some unseen attacker and the turtle brothers knew that they couldn't have left him to die when there was something they could do about it.

They had already let Mikey down by being unable to save him and the turtles were not about to make the same mistake twice with the human. Leo sighed softly at the thought as he started making his way towards the nearest manhole with the unconscious human still held close to him with Donnie and Raph following behind him like silent shadows. As the three turtles and the human disappeared into the foggy night, the sound of the bell chiming midnight echoed eerily throughout the night indicating that a new day was about to start and a second chance was right around the corner for the three brothers and mysterious human…

To be continued…

**A/N:** Yay for my very first fanfiction! More chapters will soon be following as soon as I type them up so please read and review. I appreciate feedback. Also, I do not own the TMNT series or the characters involved. The only thing that I own is the idea in which this story was created and nothing more!


	2. Chapter 1: The Bell Tolls One

Chapter One: The Bells Toll One

It had been an hour. An hour since the three turtle brothers had brought the unconscious human back to their lair and had gotten him comfortable on one of the beds in Donnie's lab. The young man's head wound had been properly cleaned and bandaged and a tattered dark green blanket lay draped over him to keep him warm from the occasional cold drafts of the sewers. Surrounding the sleeping human were two of the turtles, Raphael and Donatello as well as their sensei, Master Splinter. The old rat stared silently down at the human that bared a striking resemblance to his youngest son uncertain of what this strange turn of events meant.

He knew that Michelangelo was dead. His three remaining sons had witnessed their brother's cold blooded murder in front of their very eyes and Splinter knew that his sons would never lie about something so serious. Not even Michelangelo, if he were still alive, would have played such a cruel prank on their family and Splinter had come to terms with the unexpected turn of events. His youngest son was dead and his older brothers were left reeling with the cold hard truth. Each of his remaining sons mourned in their own way and it broke the rat's heart knowing that there was really nothing he could do save for just being there for them should they wish to talk.

A soft sigh escaped Master Splinter's lips at the thought as he slowly turned his attention away from the human then and over towards Donatello, who was discussing with Raph about the idea of obtaining a DNA sample from the unconscious human.

"I'm telling you, Raph. If I could get a sample of this human's DNA, I could run it against Mikey's and see if there are any similarities or not." The purple banded brother was saying.

Raphael stood there silently glancing down at his younger brother with his arms crossed in front of his chest and an uncertain look upon his face. Even though Raphael was normally good at keeping his emotions from others, it was obvious by the look in his eyes that he wasn't ready to accept Donatello's idea right away. What if his brother was wrong? What if the human before them really wasn't Mikey and just some human that had similar characteristics to that of their dead younger brother?

The turtle wasn't about to get his hopes up just yet however at the same time he wasn't about to hurt Don's feelings either given the fact that it seemed as though their purple banded brother had taken Mikey's loss a lot harder than any of them. After all, Mikey was Donatello's only younger brother and despite the differences between the two, the two of them had been a lot closer than him and Leo so Raph managed a small smile despite the fact that he really had no reason to smile about save for the fact that they had managed to save a human from a frozen and bitter death.

"If it makes ya feel better, Don. Just don't set ya hopes too high for I don't wanna see you get disappointed if it turns out that it isn't Mike." Raph whispered softly as he watched Donatello frown slightly at his suggestion that the human they had rescued may not have been Mikey.

The young turtle just was not ready to accept the fact that Mikey was truly gone. It wasn't like they had a body or anything like that thanks to the Shredder to confirm whether or not Mikey was truly dead so that had to count as something. Donnie was always a turtle who based his ideas off of scientific evidence and without a body, there was still a faint possibility that Mikey was still alive. The only problem though with that theory was that if the human was indeed Mikey then how in the world did he become human? Where had he been all this time? How did he end up in the middle of Central Park on a cold December night?

There were really more questions than what Don had answers for but he planned on getting to the heart of the matter and fast. With that thought in mind, Don grabbed an empty syringe and gently picked up one of the human's arms to insert the needle and acquire the DNA sample that he needed. As he was doing that, Donnie's gaze wandered down to the unconscious human and he couldn't help but wince slightly when he noticed just how pale and sickly the human looked.

His skin could have matched the color of the freshly fallen snow that covered Central Park and it seemed that his face was flush with fever, a sign that a cold may have been starting to settle in. It was certainly a good thing that the turtles had found the human when they did otherwise there was no telling what could have happened to the young man. Don was snapped out of his morbid thoughts when the syringe filled with the appropriate amount of blood needed to perform the tests that he wished to run and the young turtle gently removed the syringe from the human's arm and held it up to the light for a careful examination.

"There we go. Now I can run some tests and in about twelve hours we'll be able to tell if this human really is Mikey." Don said with a grin.

However, that grin slowly disappeared from Donnie's face when a sudden moan escaped the young man lying on the bed causing all three occupants of the room to quickly glance down at the human just as his eyes weakly fluttered open. Deep sapphire green eyes blinked back and struggled to clear the sleepiness from them and it was only after the human managed to open his eyes that he found himself frowning slightly when he noticed what appeared to be three men standing over him, two in turtle costumes and one in a giant…rat costume?

"W-what's with the costumes? Di-didn't know that it was Halloween." He said with a small smirk although winced slightly as he tried to push himself up only to have the pain in his head prevent him from doing so.

"Woah, take it easy there, friend. Your head seemed to take quite a blow when we found you so just lay back down before you hurt yourself even more." Don stated softly as he reached out and lightly pressed his hands against the young man's shoulders.

The young man eyed Don and the others wearily for a moment before reluctantly doing as he was told and moved to lay back down on the bed with his arms crossed in front of his chest childishly. A trait that Michelangelo used to do whenever he was told to do something that he did not want to do.

"Wouldn't be the first time that I hit my head." He muttered softly. Donatello rolled his eyes in slight amusement as Master Splinter cleared his throat politely and directed the human's attention towards him instead of the two turtles who were staring and observing the human closely as though waiting to see what he would do or say next.

"Pardon my son's concern. It's just that we are going through a difficult time right now with the recent passing of their youngest brother and my son, Donatello, is just afraid of losing anybody else whether it is friend or stranger."

The human's gaze softened slightly at Master Splinter's words and he moved to pull the blanket up over his shoulders as he gave a small smile.

"I know the feeling. I just recently lost all the family I had left in a fire. My father…he was killed by a bunch of guys dressed up as a bunch…of…turtles…" The human blinked slightly at his own words and he quickly turned to face Raph and Don with a horrified look upon his face.

"It was you! You were the ones who killed my father! You were the ones who killed the great and powerful Oroku Saki!"

To be continued…


	3. Chapter 2: 2 AM Surprise

Chapter Two: 2 AM Surprises

The lab fell dead silent as soon as the human had spoken and Donatello and Raphael could only stare at one another stupidly for a moment as the news of the human's words finally sank in. This boy was their worst enemy's son?! In all of their past dealings with the maniacal menace, the turtles had never once come across any indication that the psycho even had a son. However, the human before them knew exactly the real name of the Shredder and who _they _were as well. There had to be at least some truth to what the human was saying and it was Master Splinter that was the first to speak.

"Your father was Oroku Saki?" he asked in a voice that held a gentle yet slightly worried tone.

The orange haired young man directed his angry glare away from the two turtles in the room to instead focus on the giant rat who he had never once come across in all the time that he had spent with his father. While he may not have been able to trust the turtles, the young man felt as though he could trust this rat until he proved to him differently.

"Yeah, he was." The human whispered softly as Splinter reached out and hesitantly placed a hand on the top of the human's shoulder comfortingly.

"What is your name?"

The young man eyed the rat wearily for he still did not know what to make of the situation in which he had found himself in. The rat was friends with the turtles, the same turtles that had destroyed his father yet at the same time also rescued him as well. However, the young man couldn't help but wonder what would have happened had the turtles known who his father was. Would they have left him in the park to die? Or would they have helped him anyway? It was a most confusing situation, a situation that made his head ache and his stomach churn lightly. After a moment of silence though, the young man finally cleared his throat and glanced down at his lap exhaustedly.

"My name is Mika…Mika Saki." Mika whispered softly as Dontello and Raphael continued to share confused looks with one another.

If this human really was their brother, he was certainly doing an excellent job at convincing them that he truly didn't recognize them. It led Raphael to believe that this human really wasn't Mikey at all and that Donnie was doing nothing more than setting himself up for heartache when the truth was finally known. Biting his bottom lip at the thought, Raph finally cleared his throat after a few moments of awkward silence had passed and pried himself away from the cabinet that he had been leaning against for a majority of the time.

"Well that's just fine and dandy. We got ourselves the son of our most hated rival and we still have no idea how it is that you came to end up in the middle of that park. You sure daddy's goons didn't try to finish ya off in order to become top dog?"

Mika's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits at Raphael's insinuation and he grabbed one of the pillows he had been leaning against to chuck it at the obnoxious turtle. That must have been the turtle that had always been giving Hun a tough time and Mika could see almost right away why it was his father's most trusted ally hated the turtle with a burning passion. Mika had only been with the turtle for a whole whooping five minutes and already he was grating on his nerves and the orange haired male watched as the red banded turtle easily caught the pillow and returned his glare with one of his own.

"Don't you dare make the foot appear to be dishonorable ninja for they would never betray their leader or their leader's family." Mika stated coldly as Donatello and Master Splinter both turned to look over at Raphael with disapproved looks upon his face.

Apparently both figures did not approve of Raphael's hostile nature even though Donnie had a good idea as to why it was that Raph was being so hostile towards the human. It was because he was scared. Scared at the possibility that this human really was Mikey and believed himself to be their enemy's son and at the same time he was scared that this human wasn't Mikey and that they were all getting their hopes up for nothing. Maybe that was why Leo was nowhere to be found for Donatello knew that his oldest brother wouldn't want to be there when the human woke up.

"Please, forgive Raph's abrasive attitude, Mika. He's not exactly a people person." Don explained softly as Mika continued to glare at the red banded turtle.

Before Raph could open his mouth to reply though, the sound of the lab doors opening caused everybody in the room to turn their heads towards the direction of the doors where they saw Leo standing there huffing and puffing as though he had just ran five miles in the span of two minutes and Donatello couldn't help but look over at the blue banded turtle with obvious concern reflecting in his eyes.

"Leo? Leo, what's the matter?" Don asked as he took a step towards Leo, who seemed as though he had just seen a ghost.

A moment of tense silence soon filled the lab as everybody waited for Leonardo to speak. Never before had Don seen his oldest brother looking so shocked before and it was a look that Don didn't think suited his brother at all. Leo had always been the calm one, the leader and to see him looking so surprised was a bit unnerving to say the very least. Whatever it was that had set Leo off must have been major or else the turtle wouldn't have been standing there looking like he had just seen a ghost.

Just as Don finally moved to open his mouth and ask Leo what it was that was troubling him, his older brother finally managed to speak and the words that came from his brother's mouth sent a chill down Donatello's spine as though a cold gust of wind had rushed over them.

"I think I just saw Mikey in the sewers…"

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 3: 3 AM Discovery

Chapter Three: Three AM Discovery

An almost eerie silence momentarily filled the lab at Leo's sudden announcement and Raph and Don could only stare at one another with matching frowns upon their faces. The fact that there had actually been a sighting of their youngest brother seemed a bit hard to believe and yet they knew that Leonardo would have never said such a thing if he truly believed in what he saw. There was a reason that he was their leader after all and the two brothers were silent for a moment before Don finally cleared his throat.

"Well that would be an interesting turn of events then wouldn't it?" Raph looked over at Donnie with an arched eyebrow.

"And what do you mean by that brainiac?"

"I mean that if Leo really did see Mikey in the sewers then Mika here…" Don's words slowly trailed off allowing the news of what he was implying sink in.

If that really was Mikey running around in the sewers then Mika really was the son of their most hated rival and that he wasn't Mikey after all. It was a relief yet also a burden at the same time for it meant that their brother might still be alive however at the same time it also meant that they now had the son of the Shredder in their lair and that they had been foolish for getting their hopes up into believing that Mika was actually their lost brother.

The three turtle brothers remained silent for an additional minute as the news slowly began to finally sink in and it was only when the sound of soft snoring began to fill the lab that the turtles redirected their attention towards the bed where Mika had fallen asleep while the brothers gathered up their thoughts. The turtles exchanged quick glances of amusement amongst one another before Master Splinter took the blanket that had fallen down past Mika's hips to gently cover the young human back up.

"Well he certainly does snore like Michelangelo if nothing else." The old rat chuckled softly before his gaze turned more serious and he looked over at his sons with a serious look upon his face.

"Go see if you can find Michelangelo, my sons. I will stay here and watch over Mika while you do that."

The three brothers gave small nods of their heads to show that they understood their sensei's words and proceeded to give him a matching bow of respect as well. They didn't have to be told twice to go and search for a brother that they believed to have been dead and they waited until Master Splinter in turn took his own turn to bow to his sons before the three brothers were soon rushing out of the lab without another word.

It was only after they had distanced themselves from the lair that all three turtles came to a screeching halt right before the area where Leonardo had seen Michelangelo. Leo, having remained silence the entire time turned towards his younger brothers and pointed with one green finger towards the left where he had last seen the mysterious figure of their believed to be dead brother.

"I saw him go that way." Don looked towards the direction in which Leo pointed with a tilt of his head.

"If he did go that way, we should be able to catch him. That way leads to a dead end." Don said as Raph let out an unhappy grunt as he pushed past the two turtles and started storming down the sewer with his hands resting lightly on the tops of his sais just in case they were uncertain of what to expect.

"All I gotta say is, if that really was Mikey that you saw Leo, I'm going to…"

"You're going to what?" came a voice from the shadows of the tunnel causing Raph to freeze where he stood but not before he managed to pull out his sais and hold them out in front of him in an intimidating manner.

"I'm going to rip the shellback limb from limb but not before I deal with you pal." Raph growled to the figure in the shadows and before Leo or Don could stop their hot headed brother, the red banded turtle was rushing into the darkness and tackling whoever it was hiding down on the ground.

The sound of desperate splashes confirmed that Raph had found his mark in the dark and Leo and Don wasted no time in following their brother into the dark with their own weapons raised as though anticipating an ambush. The recent loss of Mikey had made it all to clear to the brothers that not even they were immune to death and it was a hard lesson that cost one of them their life. A mistake that nobody wanted to make ever again and that was why they had been expecting an ambush to be awaiting them at the dead end of the sewer tunnel.

What the two brothers [i]weren't[/i] expecting though was to find Raph kneeling in the three inch water with his sais resting by his sides as he stared down at the figure he was currently straddling in an effort to keep the figure from escaping. Tears were clearly evident rolling down Raph's face as Leo managed to light an old lantern that he and his brothers had hung back when they were young so if they were to get lost, Master Splinter would be able to find them.

As the dim light of the lantern slowly filled the tunnel, Leo and Don found them gasping simultaneously as the light was able to cast aside the shadows and reveal to them just who their mysterious heckler was. There, lying on his shell, was Mikey. The orange bandana stood out in stark contrast to the dark tunnel and the youngest turtle looked up at all three of his brothers with that notorious carefree smile of his.

"Hey guys. Miss me?"

To Be Continued…


	5. Chapter 4: Four Once More

Chapter Four: Four Once More

The turtles could only look down at their youngest brother with a mixture of uncertainty yet sheer happiness for this seemed too good to be true. Their brother was alive and quite well from the looks of things and the one question on all of their minds was, 'how'? How was it possible that Mikey had managed to survive when they saw him die?

It just didn't seem to make any sense but none of the brothers cared at the moment. All that mattered was that Mikey was back and before another word could be spoken, the three brothers were suddenly launching themselves onto Mikey causing the younger turtle to let out a small squeal of surprise as he brought his arms up to defend himself from his brothers' loving assault.

"Hey, get the shell off of me! You're scratchin' my shell." Mikey laughed as an arm was suddenly snaked around his neck and Raph pulled his head down to give him an affectionate noggie.

"Oh I'll give you more than a scratched shell, pea brain! Don't you ever go scarin' us like that ever again, ya here?" Raph scolded his younger brother causing Mikey to smirk slightly as he batted his eyelashes playfully at his red banded brother.

"Aw, Raphie, you really did miss me. Didn't you?"

"We all missed you, Mike. We thought…we thought that we'd never see you again." Leo whispered softly, daring to speak the words that had been on everybody's mind.

Mikey managed to tear himself free from Raph's hold to look over at his oldest brother with a small smile on his face. The youngest turtle slowly reached up and hesitantly wrapped his arms around Leo's neck where he closed his eyes and lightly nuzzled his brother's neck lovingly.

"I'm sorry, Leo. I didn't mean to worry you. If it makes you guys feel any better, I didn't think I was ever coming back either. Guess I wasn't ready to part with all of my precious pizza just yet." He laughed softly, thus ending the serious tone of the situation.

Leo had to admit that, as happy as he was to see his youngest brother was alive and well, something about the entire situation just didn't seem right. However, that didn't stop the oldest turtle from bringing his arms up to wrap his arms around Mikey protectively although he did find himself wincing slightly when he felt a tiny prick to the back of his neck.

'_Must be a stupid sewer mosquito.' _Leo thought to himself as he watched as Donnie and Raph soon join him in giving Mikey a big group hug.

The happy reunion of the brothers soon came to an end and the four brothers made their way back home where Master Splinter and Mika had been sitting in the living room watching the latest news. Mika still looked pale as death from the blood he had lost before the turtles had found him in the park but at least he was up and moving around which was a good thing.

The young human had been sitting beside Master Splinter when the four turtles entered the living room and he found himself smiling happily at their return even though he could not for the life of him figure out why. Maybe it was the simple fact that he had been grateful for the turtles saving him that made Mika smile at their arrival and he set down the slice of peanut butter and banana pizza he had been munching on after having politely declined Master Splinter's offer at sushi.

"Hey guys. Welcome back. Find whoever it was you were looking for in the sew-" However, Mika's words died on his lips when Mikey, who had been standing behind the three turtles, pushed his way forward.

"Hey, who's the human?" Mikey asked pointing to Mika curiously although before he could get an answer to his question, the youngest turtle found himself being tackled to the ground by a blur of orange hair and pale skin.

"How could you?! How could you do it?!" Mika screamed as he started to pound his fists into Mikey's chest despite the fact that his own wounds were starting to reopen from all the added movement.

The three turtles found themselves staring in momentary surprise at Mika's sudden change in demeanor at Mikey's appearance but they quickly snapped out of their daze and ran over to help Mikey with the obviously enraged human.

Leo was the first to reach the two and he wasted no time in easily pulling Mika away from Mikey while Raph and Don moved to help their brother up into a sitting position.

Mika's chest was heaving up and down and his face covered in a light sheen of sweat as he continued to glare at Mikey as he struggled weakly in Leo's grasp. It was obvious that, while everybody else had been excited by Mikey's sudden arrival, Mika was not and it was only when all his strength left his body that he slumped weakly against Leo.

"What in the shell is going on here?" Raph found himself asking as he sent a glare in Mika's direction as he and Don helped the still stunned Mikey to his feet.

The orange banded turtle could only stare at Mika as though slightly confused at what had just happened and he found himself quickly turning around to wrap his arms around Raph's neck lightly as though frightened by what had just happened.

"Raph, it's him…it's the Shredder's son…I saw him…he was there the night that I…well…you know…before I passed out, I saw him…hiding in the shadows and…and smirking at me." Mikey whispered softly causing Raph to frown slightly at the thought as he pulled Mikey close to him and ignoring the sudden prick he felt to the back of his neck.

'_Blasted mosquitoes.' _Raph thought to himself before looking back over to Mika and letting out a growl that left him showing some teeth indicating how unhappy he was about the whole situation.

"Care to explain that one to us…pal?"

Mika's eyes narrowed slightly at Raph's tone of voice and he brought a shaky hand up to point at Mikey with nothing but pure hatred burning in his eyes.

"H-he's the one…he's the one that ki-killed my fa-father…" Mika's speech slurred slightly as the world suddenly seemed to take a violent tilt and he found himself slumping forward as unconsciousness came to claim him.

The last thing that Mika remembered seeing before his eyes slid shut was Mikey looking down at him and a small smirk slowly spreading across his face. Then…Mika's world went dark and the human passed out leaving the turtles and Master Splinter looking at one another with matching looks of confusion upon their faces. What in the world was going on?

To be continued…


	6. Chapter 5: Five AM Nightmare

Chapter Five: Five AM Nightmares

_There was blood everywhere and Mika had to avoid stepping in it as he wandered around the otherwise darkened room in which he had found himself currently trapped in. There were no doors or windows. No way of letting any light in and nobody around to keep him company except for a lifeless body that was eerily visible despite the darkened environment._

_Mika shivered slightly as he caught sight of the blooded shell, the bruised green skin, and blood stained orange bandana that was tattered and frayed at the ends. Eyes were closed and body lifeless as Mika stared down at the body of the turtle known as Michelangelo. The same turtle that had been responsible for his father's death although instead of feeling pure hatred for the turtle, Mika felt an almost mutual feeling with the turtle and he slowly moved to kneel down beside the turtle's body with a small frown upon his face._

"_Why…why do I feel as though I know you from somewhere else?" he whispered softly as his fingers lightly caressed the back of the turtle's head where blood was slowly pouring from it._

_It was tearing the human apart inside knowing that he felt in his heart that there was more to the turtle than met the eye although Mika could not for the life of him remember how it was that he might have actually known the turtle. Of course, it wasn't like the lifeless body wasn't going to give him any answers for if the turtle before him wasn't dead then he was certainly going to be soon due to the huge amount of blood loss._

_Mika's fingers lightly grazed over the soft bandana and he unconsciously untied the bandana from the turtle's head. The bandana was soon tied around his own eyes as though by sheer instinct and Mika frowned lightly as he gazed down at the tattered ends of the bandana curiously._

"_Orange…the color of energy…life…carefree…the color that best describes…me?" Mika whispered softly as though in a trance._

_The young human found himself shaking his head slightly at the thought as he quickly moved to take off the bandana as though it was burning his skin. However, Mika frowned slightly when he realized that the bandana would not come off no matter how hard he tried and out of nowhere, a mirror appeared allowing Mika to get a good look at himself in it._

_A gasp of horror escaped the human's quivering lips when Mika noticed that instead of his own reflection looking back at him, it was the reflection of the turtle before him. The already terrified Mika could no longer hold back the scream of terror that he had managed to hold back until now and he stumbled backwards just as the mirror before him slowly disappeared and another figure soon joined the boy's nightmare._

_The Shredder, in all of his glory, stood before the lifeless turtle's body as the darkness surrounding the room began to slowly fade away and was replaced by the city park where the turtles had lost Mikey the first time to the Shredded._

"_F-father?" Mika whispered hopefully as he quickly pulled himself to his feet and went to take a step towards the older male when the Shredder finally spoke, causing Mika to stop dead in his tracks._

"_Soon…soon I will have everything I need to have my revenge against those blasted turtles once and for all." The Shredder cackled as he bent down then and scooped Michelangelo's body up into his arms then._

"_Come on, let's go home…my son…"_

_Mika's entire world came crashing down around him at the Shredder's words and his legs turned to jelly as he slumped forward on the floor with a look of horror upon his face. What was going on? Why was his father calling that turtle his son? And what about him? Didn't his father see him there and know that he could overhear every single word the man was saying? _

_Apparently not or else he would have never said those words to the turtle and Mika felt the tears stinging his eyes as he reached out with a shaking hand towards his father in a final last ditch effort to get the Shredder's attention._

"_Father!"_

"Father!"

Mika bolted straight up in bed or at least he tried to anyway but found himself unable to do so thanks to the restraints that bound his wrists to the bed. Panic instantly spread across Mika's face when he realized that he was unable to move his arms and he glanced around desperately to try and figure out what was going on.

From what the human could tell, he was still in the lab that the turtles had brought him to when then they first found him which was certainly a relief. However, Mika still didn't understand why it was that he had been bound to the bed and he felt his heart start to pound wildly in his chest when out of nowhere, the purple banded turtle came rushing over to his side and was gently resting his hands on his chest.

"Woah, take it easy there Mika. We don't need you opening your wounds again." Don whispered soothingly to the human as he gently helped Mika move to lay back down on the bed.

Mika stared up at the turtle obviously afraid by the restraints on his wrists and Don gave him a reassuring smile as he brought a hand up to lightly rest on the side of the human's face.

"It's alright. The restraints were only placed on you to prevent you from hurting yourself again." Don explained softly to the human.

Mika looked a bit nervously at the restraints for a few moments before clearing his throat and glancing up at the purple banded turtle with a small smile on his face. At least this turtle didn't seem as mean as the others and Mika felt a bit closer to this turtle than the others as well.

"Oh…well…I suppose that makes sense. Can you…er…let me out of these things now? I don't exactly like waking up bound like this." Mika chuckled softly.

Donnie smiled as he pulled the key from his belt and reached out to begin unbind the restraints that were clasped tightly around Mika's wrists. As Don began the process of removing the restraints, Klunk, drawn into the lab by all the flailing, leapt up onto the bed that Mika was laying on and before the human could stop himself, a huge grin spread across his face as he took his one free hand and reached out to lightly pat the cat on the top of his head.

"Klunk! Long time no see, furball." Mika beamed as Klunk began to purr happily although Don on the other hand had stopped in the middle of freeing Mika's other hand when he heard the human's words.

"Mi-Mika…wh-what did you just call that cat?" Don stuttered slightly and Mika tilted his head innocently to the side in slight confusion at the turtle's sudden change in demeanor.

"Klunk…why? Is that not his name? Oh no! I'm sorry little kitty! I didn't mean to call you by the wrong name! If you'd like, you can call me Muka or something like that." Mika panicked as he pulled the cat close to him with his free arm.

Don stared at Mika in stunned silence for a moment before he quickly shook his head and pulled back away from the human then as the key he had been using fell to the floor in stunned surprise.

"Ho-how did you know…that his…his name was Klunk?" Mika glanced up at Don and gave a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Uh…lucky guess?"

"Or maybe, just maybe, you're really Mikey after all…"

To be continued…


End file.
